Fran Lewis

Reviewer Fran Lewis:
Fran worked in the NYC Public Schools as the Reading and Writing
Staff Developer for over 36 years. She has three masters degrees and
a PD in Supervision and Administration. Currently. She is a member of
Who's Who of America's Teachersand Who's
Who of America's Executivesfrom Cambridge. In addition,
she is the author of three children's books and a fourth Alzheimer’s
book is Memories are Precious: Alzheimer’s Journey: Ruth’s story
in honor of her mom. Fran
hopes to create more awareness for a cure of Alzheimer.She
was also the musical director for shows in her school and ran the
school's newspaper. Fran writes reviews for authors upon request and
for several other sites. You can read some of my reviews on Ezine.com
and on ijustfinished under
the name Gabina.
Follow Here To Listen to Fran's Radio Show and Here

Can you live within your
own world; bury the atrocities done to you by people you were
supposed to trust? Can you verbalize or relate the rapes and
violations done to your body to anyone that can protect you from
further harm or do you keep silent? Why? Within this anthology you
will hear many voices of victims of sexual abuse and violence. As a
young child you grow closer to adults but when some force sexual
demands on an innocent and confused young child, sometimes the
victims has a hard time coping, becomes afraid, depressed and has
trouble coping with many situations. Some told their parents only to
speak to deaf ears or protesting their denials of what in their
hearts they knew was true.

Recovering from sexual
abuse can take years. Some stories are told in the first person as if
the writer is reliving the experiences first hand through his/her
words. Hoping to find solace in the arms of someone safe, they often
become jaded, scared and what you will read and hear within their
voices will bring tears to your eyes as it did mine.

Imagine your mother’s
boyfriend using you for his own pleasure and your mother disbelieving
you. Imagine her sticking with this man and pushing you aside. How do
you survive? You as one writer relates you excel in school and hope
that you can soar. But, sometimes you will learn that several
resorted to drugs or alcohol to escape even further or blocked out
the aggressions being inflicted on them.

Following each story there
is an in-depth interview with the writer that focuses on questions
such as: How long did the recovery period take? Did you run into any
barriers? Is everything okay now?Each story is more heartfelt
than the next but they all basically focus on the trust that was lost
and the betrayals of so many that were supposed to protect each of
them. From fathers that used some of these young girls, to mothers
that manipulated some, to a Deacon that preyed on the innocence of
young girls who thought his kindness and gestures were done in the
spirit of love and understanding. Some even addressed their words to
themselves in letters as if they were making up to themselves for not
stopping what was done to them and yet divorcing themselves from the
harsh realties of their abusive encounters by writing it as if it
were to someone else.

One writer related these
exact words: You’ve just been through something so horrific words
cannot describe it, and I know you are not going to tell anyone for a
long time. Your body has been through a trauma that very few people
can understand.” Can you imagine what this young person has
enveloped within her mind and cannot feel safe to share? So many
stories that deal with exactly this fear of not being able to get
justice and relate their experiences to anyone that they feel will
listen.

At the close of all of
these stories we learn more about each author now. Some hid their
injuries from a childhood sexual predator’s assault for many years
and then became involved in poor choices as an adult. Others soared,
formed many organizations and groups that would help others cope with
what they endured. Some are even authors on the New York Times Best
Seller list. Treatment programs are available and these are some of
the groups formed: Voices and Faces Project in the U.S. and Canada
CASA (court appointed special advocates for children) a wonderful
resource to know about. The story that really broke my heart was
written to the author’s own diary relating things in a timeline
that will shock readers. What happens when your own cousin inflicts
pain and abuse on you? What happens when you cringe every time you
hear his name or know he’s coming to your house? What happens when
you finally fight back against him and against the bullies in your
school? YOU WIN!

Unfortunately the writer
won’t attend family gatherings if he is there and the sad part is
no one has brought him to justice.

What about the teacher
that saw two young girls that had just met for the first time and
became friends drawing pictures that told many stories? Why didn’t
this teacher realize what the drawings depicted? Why didn’t he
report the abuse or question them? Back then when this happened
teachers were not required to report abuse as they are today and
which as an educator I did many times. Perhaps if he was more
proactive and realized that something was wrong he could have safe
these two young girls from further abuse.

On page 92 Where To Find
Help is listed if you are in immediate danger. Statistics are
horrifying when you read how many incidents there are each year or
each day. Pages 93-95 spell it all out. It includes the definition of
who are the Perpetrators and How Does Victimization Affect Health?

This book is a definite
must read for everyone especially middle school children, high school
and young adults to know that they need to speak out, find someone to
trust and not keep silent. As you read these stories you will learn
why some might have recovered, why others still might need time and
why some realized that staying silent let the guilty party go free.
THINGS WE HAVEN’T SAID: HAVE NOW BEEN SPOKEN!